Chapter 615: Hulaoguan Resolution

In Hulao Pass, in the general's mansion, Ying Huai sat on the main seat with a tired face. The generals under his command, Chen Zhi, Zhu Kuo, Jing Lu, Wu Cong, Chen Guang and others, were mostly Ying Huai's direct descendants for many years.

Since Wang Feng lost power, the strength of the Qin State was mainly divided into five major forces, Wang Feng, Ying Huai, Geng Yue, Bai Qi and the young and strong sect led by Chen Zhi, Yuan Bupo and others. The strongest among them is undoubtedly Bai Qi. However, because he is not trusted by the Emperor of Qin, he has been suppressed by other forces. Originally, Wang Feng's power ranks second, but after Wang Feng's Changping Pavilion was defeated, Wang Feng lost power and suffered heavy damage, becoming the weakest.

The leaders of all major forces are the leading generals of the Qin military, and each has many followers.

"General, our army fought with Deng's army for two months, and there were great casualties. If there were no reinforcements, I'm afraid Hulao Pass would not last long." Chen Zhi said to Ying Huai.

Qin State had few soldiers and horses. After learning about the intention of Deng's army to invade Guanzhong, Qin State gathered 250,000 troops on all four borders to resist the Deng's army's invasion. These 250,000 troops were already more than 80% of the Qin State's troops. However, since the war started, Wang Feng died in Xingyang City, Geng Yue died in Mei County, and the 250,000 troops had gone to the third. The rest of the troops and horses each had their own important responsibilities and could not support Hulao Pass.

Now Ying Huai can mobilize only 20,000 elite troops stationed in Luoyang City in advance. Leaded by Ying Huai's confidant general Ying Tang, but there are only 20,000 people. Even if all of them are transferred to Hulao Pass, they will only temporarily block Deng's army and cannot last long. What's more, these 20,000 soldiers are the backup plan prepared by Ying Huai, and they will not move lightly unless they have to. You must know that once Hulao Pass is lost, the first thing that will be affected is Luoyang. Luoyang City was the capital of the pre-Qin period and the Zhou Dynasty. The city is not small in scale. Although after more than two hundred years of wind and rain, the city is no longer as good as that of the past, it is not comparable to a small city. It is impossible to rely on 20,000 troops to defend Luoyang City.

The purpose of these 20,000 troops stationed in Luoyang City is to allow these soldiers to retreat to Hangu Pass once Hulao Pass cannot be defended.

Hangu Pass is the most important barrier in the four passes in Guanzhong. Back then, the powerful Qin relied on this powerful pass to block the six eastern countries, and it was also the last fortress that Ying Huai chose to resist the Deng army for Qin.

In addition to the 20,000 elite troops in Luoyang City, Qin State has 50,000 elite troops in Xiliang. However, it is not so easy to transfer these 50,000 elite troops into Guanzhong. First, time is not allowed, and second, Mei County has been lost. Deng’s army stationed in Mei County. Even if all the 50,000 troops in Xiliang enter the pass, it will be difficult to break through the blockade of Deng’s army and come to Hulao Pass.

"General Chen, where is Li Rubing now?" Ying Huai asked Chen Zhi where Li Rubing was. Ying Huai knew very well that there were not many troops in Qin State to mobilize him. Now the only one who could save Hulao Pass was the 100,000 elite Zhao army under Li Rubing.

Chen Zhi replied: "Return to General, Li Rubing led a 100,000 army to Xingyang City. It is reported that the Zhao army has launched several offensives on Xingyang City, but it has not yet been able to break the city. Instead, it has suffered a lot of losses. Now the Zhao army is hoarding troops under Xingyang City."

"What does Li Rubing mean? Why can't you get through Xingyang City? From Zhao State to Hulao Pass, it's not necessary to cross Xingyang City. From Wen County to cross the Yellow River south, you can reach Luoyang directly, and you can reach Hulao Pass in an instant. Why do you have to pass through Xingyang City?" Zhu Kuo said angrily. In his opinion, there was no need for Li Rubing to tuck troops from Xingyang City at all. From Zhao State to Hulao Pass, there is not only Xingyang Road. The Zhao army can completely enter Henei County west and cross the Yellow River from Wen County south.

"Haha, Li Rubing would not do this!" Ying Huai smiled and said, "Although Deng State gathered 500,000 elite troops to attack our Qin Dynasty, in order to prevent Zhao State, more than 100,000 elite troops were left in the Central Plains. If Li Rubing bypassed Xingyang City and headed south from Wen County, wouldn't he be afraid that Deng's army would attack Huai County? Compared with Hulao Pass, the hinterland of Zhao State must be more important. How could Li Rubing lose his roots and chase the ends? Xingyang City will not be able to come to Hulao Pass for a day."

Speaking of this, Ying Huai felt a sense of sadness. When did Qin State fall to such a level? Four years ago, if Qin State hadn't sent troops to the Central Plains, would it be a question whether Li Rubing could return to Jinyang City alive? But four years have passed, and the feng shui has changed. Now when Qin State comes to Qin State, it is really ironic to see Li Rubing's expression.

"What should we do? Chang'an has no reinforcements anymore, and Li Rubing refuses to come to Hulao Pass. Should we really transfer all the 20,000 troops from Luoyang City?" Jing Lu said.

"Luoyang's troops must not move. This is the backhand of our army and the capital to defend Hangu Pass in the future. If these 20,000 troops are gone, once Hulao Pass is lost, we will no longer be able to stop Deng's army from entering Guanzhong." Shen Zhi said that no matter what, Luoyang's troops cannot move.

Gu Zhu

"This is not possible, that is not possible. Can we only wait for death in Hulao Pass?" Wu Cong complained. Li Rubing refused to come, Chang'an could not send reinforcements, and Luoyang's troops could not move, so how can we fight this battle?

"General Shen, I wonder what you think about the current situation?" Ying Huai asked Shen Zhi.

Shen Zhi thought for a while and said, "General, the current situation is very unfavorable for our army. We can't defend Hulao Pass for too long. Moreover, once Hulao Pass is lost, we may not have one ten of our ten thousand elite soldiers. Therefore, as far as the last general sees, our army might as well give up Henan County and retreat to Hangu Pass with all our strength."

"Retreat to Hangu Pass?" Ying Huai said with a frown.

Shen Zhi nodded and said, "Yes, for two months, our army has only more than 30,000 elite soldiers left. Of course, the last general believes that the losses of the Deng army must be above our army, but the Deng army has hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers outside the pass. This loss is insignificant for the Deng army. Moreover, the current situation is that even if we put all the last 30,000 people in Hulao Pass, we may not be able to defend Hulao Pass. And if there are no soldiers in Hulao Pass, how can we defend Hangu Pass with just the 20,000 elite soldiers in Luoyang City?"

Shen Zhi's words were recognized by everyone. Even 50,000 people could not defend a Hulao Pass, and only 20,000 people could not defend a Hangu Pass?

"On the contrary." Shen Zhijian did not refute his words, and continued: "If we give up Henan County, we can retreat to Hangu Pass with the troops from Hulao Pass and Luoyang City. Although the chance of victory against hundreds of thousands of Deng troops is still very small, Hangu Pass will be even more supportable to the back of Guanzhong. Moreover, if we give up Henan County, it is equivalent to exposing all the southern borders of Zhao to the Deng army's nose. In this case, in order to ensure the safety of the border, Zhao State must mobilize more troops to move south. After all, no one knows whether Deng's army will turn the gun to attack Zhao State. With the pressure of Zhao State's troops, the strength of Deng's army to attack Hangu Pass will be weakened, which will be of great benefit to our army guarding Hangu Pass."

"But the Henan County was obtained by the Qin Dynasty after a lot of hardships. If we give up like this, even if we can repel Deng's army in the future, it will be difficult to get it back!" Ying Huai was very hesitant. In order to get Henan County, Qin State fought several tough battles with Zhao State, and lost tens of thousands of elite troops and several generals before snatching Henan County from Zhao State. Now that he has given up like this, Ying Huai is very reluctant to leave.

Qin entered the pass from Xiliang, and seemed to have killed all directions. He took Guanzhong, Hanzhong County, Henan County, Henei County and half of Shangdang County in one fell swoop. However, only Ying Huai and other generals knew about the hardships. Wang Feng's defeat in Changpingting that year, led to Qin's sudden loss of Nan Shangdang and Hanoi County, which had already seriously damaged Qin's vitality. If Henan County was given up, Qin would really be delusional to restore its vitality. Moreover, with Deng's strength, even if the Qin army could really repel Deng's army, it would not cause much loss to Deng's strength. This means that once Henan County fell into the hands of Deng, unless Qin could form an overwhelming advantage over Deng's country, it would be really difficult to get it back.

"General, the last general also knows the importance of Henan County to our Qin Dynasty, but only by giving up can we gain. With the current strength of our army, it is very difficult to save Henan County. Maybe, our tens of thousands of elite soldiers will really be destroyed in Henan County. Although Henan County is good, these soldiers are even more important. Without these soldiers, let alone Henan County, it is still a question whether we can save them in Guanzhong. General, we should be constantly chasing and suffer from chaos. At this time, we cannot hesitate." Shen Zhijian Ying Huai was a little hesitant and said hurriedly.

Ying Huai heard this and thought for a long time. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, General Shen is right. If you keep breaking down and suffer the chaos, it has become a fact that Henan County cannot be familiar with it. It is useless for us to continue to fight with Deng's army in Hulao Pass. Instead of consuming troops here, it is better to concentrate all our strength and guard Hangu Pass to Luoyang Ying Tang, and order him to withdraw all the troops, horses, food, and supplies from Luoyang City to Hangu Pass. In addition, he told Ying Tang that he would have bought him ten days at Hulao Pass. Within ten days, he would take away the people near Luoyang as much as they can, and place all these people in various parts of Guanzhong."

After Qin entered the pass from Xiliang, its national strength was difficult to develop, not because of the lack of territory. Although Qin was bypassed the smallest in terms of territory, Qin was not weak at all in terms of wealth. Guanzhong's fertile field was enough to support hundreds of thousands of elite troops. The reason why Qin had always been at the tail of the crane in the Three Kingdoms was because of the small population. Qin and the Han Kingdom, which was entrenched in Guanzhong, fought back and forth for more than two hundred years. The people of Guanzhong had always hated Qin. After Qin entered the pass, in order to stabilize the situation in Guanzhong as soon as possible, they killed the people of Guanzhong as long as they did not follow, resulting in a sharp decline in the population of Guanzhong. Although more than 20 years have passed, the hatred of the people of Guanzhong towards Qin has gradually weakened, but the lost population cannot be fully recovered in just 20 years, so population issues have always been the biggest factor restricting the development of Qin.

That's why Ying Huai asked Ying Tang to bring the people of Henan County to Guanzhong as much as possible. The city can be denied, but the people cannot. For this reason, Ying Huai did not hesitate to buy Ying Tang for ten days at Hulao Pass.

"Here!" Chen Zhi responded. He knew what Ying Huai was doing. Although this would put a lot of pressure on Hulao Pass, Chen Zhi also thought it was necessary to do so. Luoyang City has always been the most prosperous place in Henan County. More than 50% of the people in the county are concentrated near Luoyang, and there are 300,000 to 400,000 people in the county. Even if only half of them are taken away, it will be of great benefit to the development of Guanzhong.

"In addition!" Ying Huai continued: "Once our army evacuated from Hulao Pass, the Deng army will inevitably pursue it from behind. Therefore, we must leave a group of people at Hulao Pass to buy time for our army to retreat to Hangu Pass!" After that, Ying Huai looked at everyone.

Feeling Ying Huai's gaze, everyone lowered their heads and dared not speak, because everyone knew that staying in Huzhuo can be said to be a life-and-death death, or even a certain death. People cherish their lives. Although most of the people who can join the army have already put life and death aside, not afraid of death does not mean that they want to die. If they can live, who wants to die?
Chapter completed!